Intent

At Our Lady and St. Chad Catholic Academy our vision is to give our young learners a Science curriculum, which enables them to explore and discover the world around them, confidently, so that they have a deeper understanding of the world we live in. We realise that young learners are naturally curious and passionate about learning; we provide a stimulating Science curriculum that nurtures students’ natural curiosity and their on-going intellectual development. Through a hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum, students will experience the joy of exploring our natural world.

Our Science curriculum is designed to manifest the awe and wonder of God within our scientific context acknowledging that God is the centre of all of our scientific pursuit and inquiry. Our aim is that these stimulating and challenging experiences help our young learners to secure and extend their scientific knowledge and vocabulary. We believe that these opportunities will ensure that our young students are confident, life-long learners who will explore the world around them.

 

Implementation

At each stage of the curriculum, students are prepared so they can successfully transition to the next key stage with both the required knowledge and skills to build upon. We believe in developing firm foundations and the ‘big picture’ where students continue to build on and apply scientific knowledge and skills. Student’s follow the Key stage 3 curriculum from Year 7 to until the Easter term in Year 9 covering the entire programme of study outlined in curriculum 2015. In Years 10 and 11, they follow the Edexcel Combined Science qualification. At Key Stage 5, both A level and BTEC are offered to maximise uptake at this key stage.

Science at Key Stage 3 builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills that students have developed in Key Stage 2. Student’s need to recognise, describe, use and apply key scientific ideas to explain abstract phenomena even when they appear in unfamiliar contexts.  By delving into key ideas, we can stimulate their curiosity and help them to make connections between different areas of Science.

Key scientific ideas are introduced early in Key Stage 3. Student’s need to develop their understanding steadily so that they can recognise, use and then apply each of the ideas in different contexts. The teaching sequence offers opportunities to reinforce and develop each key scientific idea. In Years 8 and 9, more sophisticated scientific ideas are used and applied more widely.  Student’s attention is drawn to the wider applications to help them to recognise that a key idea used in one context may be applied in another. The curriculum draws on contexts from across the scientific disciplines and examples of science in past and present everyday life.

Science at Key Stage 4 builds on the knowledge and scientific enquiry skills developed in Key stage 3. Curricula at key stage 4 comprises approximately equal proportions of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. At Key Stage 5, pupils can select from A Levels or choose to follow a BTEC in Applied Science.  In our teaching we maximise their opportunities to deal with more challenging questions to encourage  pupils to develop critical thinking skills in addition to providing opportunities to demonstrate extended writing. Students are offered a range of opportunities to extend their learning outside the classroom to promote an uptake into science related careers.

 

Impact

We can see and measure the effect of the Science Curriculum at Our Lady and St. Chad Academy through a range of important strategies delivered routinely in our lessons. These include self and peer assessment, green and red pen feedback, regular long answer questions, and End of Unit assessments. Our students learn how to recognise strengths as well as what needs to be done to make progress. Through our relentless determination to improve the quality of education in the Science department, we expect every student to achieve and enjoy their experiences with us.

The impact of our work on the progress and attainment of students is evident in the progress of students. In Year 7 and 8, this is through internal assessments. In Years 9, 10 and 11, this is through PPEs. Ultimately, our impact is evident through the external examination results from GCSE grades for Combined Science, A Level Biology, Chemistry and BTEC Applied Science results.